


The Truth in the Case

by Applecheese7



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Anthropologist, Based off pilot episode, Bones TV show, Fbi harry, Harry is Booth, Hidden Relationship, Liam is Hodgens, Louis is Bones, M/M, Murder, NONE OF THE BOYS DIE, Niall is Sweets, Secret Relationship, Zayn is Angela, zouis friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-09
Updated: 2016-09-09
Packaged: 2018-08-14 00:11:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7991449
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Applecheese7/pseuds/Applecheese7
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dr. Louis "Bones" Tomlinson has just gotten back from a job in Guatemala and is facing a new job that will be more difficult for him to handle. Based on the first episode of Bones with parts taken from other episodes. </p><p>Hint: the ending won't be the same as the pilot</p><p>Bones AU in which Louis is Brennan and Harry is Booth, Nill is Hodgens, Liam is Sweets and Zayn is Angela. What happens exactly is up to the writer though it would be lovely if there was sumt and side-pairing Ziam. The story can either start of where they first meet each other or when they’re already working on a case. (Obviously changed Niall and Liam's parts.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Warnings

**Author's Note:**

> This is partially edited so it may be drastically changed when final edits are done. I got this about one month ago so I hope you all like this. Comment if you have any questions or just comment to say if you liked it or not. 
> 
> Credit to Hart Hanson, the writer for the pilot episode of Bones. I may have a few lines from the pilot episode in here, along with some scenes from the show.
> 
> Heart-filled acknowledgements to louisfringe (louisfringe.tumblr.com) who was/is an amazing beta who deserves so much love for dealing with my poor writing. And also love to the original prompter, whomever that may be.

I have decided to add this part to make sure you read all the tags and realize I start this story off with a young girl who is found murdered and is now at the bottom of a lake. While trying not to spoil anything just know a fetus will be dead, no I'm not doing this because of Babygate. I sadly don't know how to tag this part of the story so I have to add it here. Please comment if you read this and if not and say someone comments in a later chapter about how upset they are about this fetus's untimely demise I will very bluntly point out they should have read this. Enjoy. :)


	2. Meeting the Victim

Light shines through the huge windows that looked out onto the tarmac of the airport as planes lifted off into the air to some unknown destination while some arrived full of bleary-eyed people praying for a Starbucks or something to be near their gates.

While passing by many people, Zayn Malik kept muttering to himself about being late to pick up his best friend, Louis Tomlinson. Louis had been overseas handling the anthropology at a site in Guatemala, a “vacation” of sorts to take a break from the lab.

But as he looked up to see if the plane Louis was on had landed or not he saw the computers there were glitching badly, shifting sizes and how the font looked.

“This board is broken,” Zayn said aloud in distaste as he looked around helplessly for someone to help him as the boards kept glitching. “The arrivals board is….” He trailed off, no one seemed to care that he couldn’t find out if the plane landed or not. “Does anyone know if the flight from Guatemala landed? Did anyone meet anyone from the flight?”

No one responded as they all walked past the distressed boy. He kept asking questions until he finally located an information desk and decided to go there to see if they could help. At the desk sat a girl who looked rather busy typing away on the keyboard in front of her.

“Excuse me,” he said as he got to the desk. “Uh, the arrivals boards are glitching.” But while he was talking, the girl held up a finger, as if to say ‘hold for a moment.’ Zayn placed his hand on the desk and sighed in surrender. He looked at his watch and then back at the girl. “Hello? M’am, excuse me. Yoo-hoo.” He said in vain, trying to get her attention. She only held up a finger again, obviously not caring that her job was to help people like him.

Zayn stood there for a few seconds, contemplating how to get her attention and finally get the help he needs. He finally gave up and backed away before quickly unbuttoning his shirt and opening it to expose his chest. The girl looked up and he swore he could see the desperation almost take ahold of her.

“Yes, hi,” he began. “The flight from Guatemala...” He was interrupted by a voice coming from behind him.

“Please tell me you tried to start with excuse me,” said Louis as he looked at Zayn, amused.

Louis looked amazing even though he had been on a long flight. Although he was wearing a vest he probably had worn every day while in Guatemala, indicating that he was working until he had to leave. He always worked until he has seconds to get to the airport, too invested in his work to care.

“Boobear,” Zayn said as he turned, not caring to rebutton his shirt before giving Louis a hug. “Yes I did. Welcome home. Are you tired?” Zayn asked as he and Louis started walking towards the exit. “Was Guatemala awful? I hear they are really, horribly backwards there.”

“Surprisingly, I was never forced to show off my chest in order to get information unlike some people,” Louis said mockingly.

“Did you get to show off for any fun reasons?” Zayn asked.

“I was literally neck-deep in a mass grave. The only reason my shirt came off was because of the heat, not like I had much choice since you know how much I don’t like showing off my chest.”

While they were walking, Louis noticed a guy who seemed to be trying to follow them without raising suspicion, but was failing miserably at it.

“You know, diving head-first into a pit of cadavers is no way to handle a tough case. Staying home and having a guy’s weekend is a way better way of dealing with it.” Zayn said, unaware of the guy behind them.

“Zayn, I chose to go to Guatemala because it sounded interesting, not because of that case.” Louis said, talking about the last case he worked on before going to Guatemala.

“My way of dealing with a bad case is better,” Zayn said, even though he knew Louis wasn’t the type to get drink a lot in order to forget anything. Just as Zayn was about to continue, Louis dropped his bags and turned to face the man who was following them.

“Sir, why are you following us?” Louis asked the man as he literally got face to face with him.

Suddenly, the man grabbed Louis’ arm and tried to drag Louis away. Louis quickly reacted and swung his arm around to get out of the man’s hold and then punched the guy directly in the stomach. When the man bent over in pain, Louis brought his knee up to defend himself. He then began to twist the guy’s arms behind his back while forcing the guy to the ground. All the while Zayn was calling out for security to help Louis from the creep. Zayn then decided to use his bag and started swinging at the guy who was being held down by Louis.

Suddenly a man in an airport security uniform showed up and pointed a gun at Louis. “Step back now!” The man commanded.

“Why?” Louis asked, not moving. “He attacked me!”

“I’m Homeland Security.” The guy being held down by Louis said.

“Oh,” Zayn said, trying to lighten the mood while standing next to other men, all pointing guns at Louis. “Little misunderstanding here.”

“You can put away your guns.” Louis announced as he backed up a little, his hands raised in surrender.

“Oh, is he in charge now?” The Homeland Security guy asked sarcastically as he dusted himself off and stood up. “No! I’ll tell you when you can lower your guns.” He then stood up and pointed at Louis’ bag. “Hand me the bag,” He demanded in an unamused tone, obviously not a fan of Louis.

“Is that what this is all about?” Louis exclaimed in exasperation as he leaned down and picked up the small bag he had been carrying and handed it to the agent. The guy opened up the bag and inside, staring right back at him, was a decomposing skull. “Boo.” Louis jeered as the man dropped the bag in horror and stepped back. Zayn looked around smugly at the officers. One got behind Louis and began to handcuff him.

@@@@@@@@@@

“My name is Dr. Louis Tomlinson. I’ve been in Guatemala for the last two months,” Louis began repeating for the thousandth time while he sat in an interrogation room inside the airport.  “I’ve been identifying victims of genocide, including him.” Gesturing to the skull that now sat perfectly on the table, filling the air with the scent of decay.

“Most people in this situation start to sweat,” Homeland Security guy stated.

“Again, genocide in Guatemala. How are _you_ scary after that?” Louis sassily replied, completely done with this agent’s shit.

“You know who doesn’t sweat? Sociopaths.” This guy said with an air of confidence as if he figured out who Louis is.

“I’m not a sociopath!” Louis exclaimed, straightening up in his chair. “I'm an anthropologist from the Jeffersonian Institute here in Washington D.C..”

“Who works for the F.B.I.” the guy said in disbelief. “Which I’d maybe believe if you had identification that did more than allow you access to the cafeteria.”

Suddenly a tall man in a suit walked into the room, adjusting his watch. This man was tall, way taller than Louis, with dazzling green eyes and short hair, although Louis noticed the small strands of hair curling into his neck. His name is Harry Styles, and he and Louis are some-what together, but after having no contact, Louis doesn’t truly know what they are.

“You are illegally transporting human remains, sir.” The agent continued, not paying attention to Harry. “And you assaulted a Homeland Security agent.”

“I’m sorry that I embarrassed you in front of your friends. But next time you should identify yourself before you go dragging people away, if you expect them to not defend themselves because some creepy guy was following them and then dragging them away.” Louis replied to the agent before turning to Harry.

“What are you doing here?”

“F.B.I. Special Agent Harry Styles, Mayor Crime Investigation, D.C.” He said as he showed off his credentials, ignoring Louis’ question. “Bones identifies bodies for us.”

“Don’t call me Bones.” Louis and Harry have a long history of working together and since day one he has always called Louis Bones, against Louis’ wishes. “And I do more than identify.”

“He also writes books,” Harry supplies and he slides one of Louis’ books to the agent, with the back cover facing up with a photo of Louis holding a skull up and his history on the bottom. The agent picked up the book and turned it over to see the title of the book near the bottom of the cover with Louis‘ name prominently displayed at the top in huge font.

“Fine. He’s all yours.” the guy said as he looked at Harry.

“Great. Let’s grab your skull and let’s skedaddle.” He said as he nodded his head to the door and turned.

“Wait!” Louis cried in exasperation. “That’s it? ‘He’s all yours’? Why did you stop me?”

“What’s the matter?” Harry asked. “You’re free to go. Let’s just grab you stuff and leave.”

“You set me up.” Louis accused before turning to Homeland Security guy. “You got a request from the F.B.I. to hold me for questioning, didn’t you?” He didn’t say anything and instead looked between Louis and Harry. Louis turned to Harry with a look of disbelief while Harry looked almost guilitingly at anything in the room other than Louis.

“I love this book.” The Homeland Security guy says as he hands the book to Louis, further proving what Louis had just said. Louis just shook his head and grabbed his book and skull before walking past Harry to get out of the room.

“That the best you can do?” Louis asked while walking past Harry.

@@@@@@@@@@

“What?” Harry asked when they were finally in the car. Harry was driving while Louis steamed in the passenger seat.

“Getting Homeland Security to grab me so you can stage a fake rescue?!” Louis barked as he looked disapprovingly at Harry.

“At least I picked you up at the airport.” Harry said, trying to lighten the mood with his unfunny joke.

“You couldn’t have called or something, like a normal boyfriend? No! You had to pick me up by having another agent hold me?” Louis said in a hushed scream.

“I went through the appropriate channels, but your assistant was less than forthcoming with me.”

“Yeah, well after the last case, Nick decided to never to put your calls through to me again. He’s still angry at you because of what you said to him.” Louis reminded Harry about the last case they worked together on. “If you apologize to him he might start forwarding you to me again, so you don’t have to have Homeland stop me at the gate.”

“Why should I?” Harry asked as he turned into the entrance of Arlington National Cemetery.

“Unless you want me to be angry every time you pick me up like you did at the airport you might want to apologize.” Louis said as he got out of the car and met Nick, who was standing next to the Jeffersonian’s mobile van.

“What do we got?” Harry asked one of the other F.B.I. agents, Mark Jenson, standing next to a boat.

“Possible dead body in the water, but no one can give a conclusive answer.” Mark explained as Louis got onto the boat and waited for Harry. He wasn’t allowed to mess with any of the F.B.I.’s equipment, if he didn’t want them to mess with his corpse.

Harry nodded as he and Mark got on the boat, and Mark sailed the boat until they were almost directly over where the body was located. Harry picked up a weird looking underwater camera attached to a long cord that allows them to see the body without going underwater.

“What am I supposed to be looking for?” Louis asked after a few seconds of nothing showing up on the screen.

“It’s like pornography,” Harry said. “You’ll know it when you see it.” Harry slowly lowered the camera deeper into the water and moved it around until something appeared on the screen. Louis moved closer to the screen and began squinting at it, and once the camera moved to show a human arm bone moving in the water.

He smiled, “Bring ‘em up boys, we got a dead body.” He said as he moved from the screen and leaned back into his seat. Harry just shook his head and lifted the camera out of the water and waved the diving team over to get the body.

As soon as the body was out of the water Louis was right there, looking over the wrapping around the body. “The body is wrapped in four-mil flat-poly construction sheeting and PVC-coated chicken wire,” said Louis into a small recorder. “It was weighted down, explaining why the body didn’t surface during decomposition. The skeleton is complete, but the skull is in pieces.”

“Who do we have?” Harry asked as he crouched down beside Louis.

“A female, probably aged between 18-22, and unknown race. She’s roughly 5’3” in height and was a tennis player. Unknown date of death.”

As Louis stood up and removed his latex gloves, he said, “Alright boys, pack her up and return her to my lab. You can have the coverings.”

@@@@@@@@@@

“The pond is teeming with microbes and bacteria that accelerated decomposition, but also houses black carp and koi, which fed off the body,” Liam Payne, the “bug and slime” expert at the Jeffersonian explained. He’s the guy to go to when you need information on weird liquids, bugs, or an item’s composition.

“May I just say, ew?” Zayn voiced, disgusted. Zayn is the resident facial reconstruction and simulation expert for the Jeffersonian team. Zayn is a talented artist and inventor that can take a skull and recreate it’s face or even show the ways a body was injured.

“Given all I found in the sludge with the body, it had been in the pond for one winter and two summers.” Liam said as he looked over the body. “I also found small bones in the silt, I’m guessing rana temporaria.”

“Frog bones?” Louis asks. Liam nods.

“And also some tiny gold links perhaps from a fine chain.” Liam finished. “And I haven't finished analyzing what the victim was holding in their hands, but it looks like cellulose.”

Louis nodded before looking at Nick. “Finish getting all the evidence you need from the body and then clean the bones and give the skull fragments to me once you’re done.” Louis said before removing the gloves and heading to his office. “Also swab the skull, there was microscopic grit embedded in the skull fragments.”

@@@@@@@@@@

It has now been a few hours and Louis is just getting started on piecing the skull back together. It feels like there are a million and one tiny pieces that make even 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzles feel like child's play.

At midnight Louis felt his head lean down on the work table he was at, about half of the skull glued together, when he heard the ding of someone coming onto the platform of the work station.

“You might like some coffee.” Harry suggested as he placed a mug in front of Louis’ face while he took a sip of his own.

“What are you doing here?” Louis asked as he sat up and took a sip of his coffee, already feeling more awake.

“Woke up from a very long nap to notice you hadn’t gone to my place, like you said you would, so I figured I’d look here to see if you were held back.” Harry explained while pulling up a chair next to Louis.

“Well, thank you.” He said, giving Harry a quick kiss on the cheek before setting the coffee down and getting back to work.

Harry watched as Louis moved pieces around and then began to glue pieces together and then attach them to the assembled parts of the skull. As the pieces got glued together, it no longer looked like a jumbled mess but an actual skull.

Once it was done there were still pieces missing from the top of the skull and parts of the nose, but the rest was reconstructed. Louis then moved to a giant magnifying glass they have set up on the tables and began to examine the skull.

“There’s evidence of trauma to the skull, like it was hit repeatedly with a blunt object,” Louis said as he tried to look closer at the skull. Harry could tell from Louis’ actions that it might be best to bring him back home.

“And with that,” Harry said as he removed the skull from Louis’ hand and put it on the table. “I think it’s best to put the skull back with the body and bring you home for a good night’s sleep. You keep rubbing your eyes, and that’s not a good sign, my little doctor.”

Louis let himself be led by Harry to his car and back to Harry's house. Louis still has his place to keep up appearances that they're not sleeping together because of rules disallowing partners from dating if they both go into the field together. So they keep it hidden from everyone, including Zayn and the rest of the team. Although, Louis suspects that he and Harry aren’t the only ones on the team dating.

“I just don’t understand,” Louis whimpered as they were driving to Harry’s house. “What would motivate someone to kill a girl that young, that amazing?”

“I don't know, babe.” Harry replied as he pulled Louis out of his car to give him a hug once they got to Harry’s place. “But we’re gonna find out who and then we’ll make them pay.”

“But…” Louis began.

“But nothing.” Harry said as they both began to strip off their clothes and get ready for bed. “We will catch them because you are a brilliant anthropologist, my angel, and I am the talented special agent from the F.B.I. who can take what you give me and can get the guy. We have done cases like this long before, and each ended with us catching our guy. Nothing will be different; to prove it, when we succeed, I’ll give you an entire day where you call all the shots, anything you want, I’ll do.”

Louis could picture that day and was getting excited, but, given the time, he was too sleepy to make any breakthroughs on the case. So, they gave each other simple good night kiss before drifting off to sleep.

@@@@@@@@@@

The next day brought new shocking evidence to the team.

“So, putting in the tissue markers Louis provided, this is what I got.” Zayn said as he clicked a few buttons on his tablet as a hologram of the skull appeared in front of them. “The markers indicated she had African American features.”

The machine they were viewing Zayn’s depiction of the girl on was designed and created by Zayn and can show holograms of anything. This includes what the person looked like, how they might have gotten the injuries they have, and pretty much anything that can be put into the coding of the machine.

A face a young girl appeared before all of them. Louis stared at the image before him then turned to Zayn.

“Change her features to Caucasian.” Louis ordered. Suddenly the face shifted but Louis wasn’t completely satisfied with the face before him.

“Now mix the Caucasian and African American traits.” Louis requested. Suddenly the girl before them appeared and everyone of them could tell who she was. “Meet Chloe Stevens, assistant to Senator Robert Markson, who disappeared last spring,” Louis said as Harry grew rigid.

“She was last seen outside a convenience store a mile from her house, she never made it to her car,” Harry provided. “I was the head detective assigned to the case before it was labeled cold and stored in the archives.”

“Damn.” Liam murmured as he stared closer at the hologram. “I heard about that case, there were rumors underground that the Senator got rid of her for testing his marriage. Apparently he was too devout in his religion that he got rid of her when she tested his control too much.”

“Yeah, that’s not true. I see your theories are still as insane as always Payne” chimed a new voice to the group. Niall “Sweets” Horan was the leading psychologist to the F.B.I. He sometimes helps the team on cases that seem to have a deeper message that the criminals are trying to communicate.

“What do you have, Sweets?” Harry inquired since he saw the files in Niall’s hands.

“The way her body was dumped shows that the killer was ashamed of what happened. Therefore, they weighted down the body so that it wouldn’t be found. Removal of the clothing shows no value for the body and could also be a counter-measure to remove evidence of what they did.” Niall said as he handed the file to Harry, who quickly looked it all over. “And the two wrappings were, pardon my word choice, over-kill. It showed that they were paranoid, so the double bags were to assure that the body wouldn’t be found.”

“Thanks, Sweets.” Harry said as he closed the file. Niall nodded before leaving Zayn’s office, probably off to go talk to one of his many patients or teams that he helps.

“Oh, and before I forget.” Niall says sticking his head in the office. “Welcome back Louis, hope to see you and Harry at our weekly meeting tonight at 5. Bye.”

Louis rolled his eyes while Harry sighed. The F.B.I. made them talk to Sweets after one case left them both at odds with each other. The head of the F.B.I. figured it wouldn’t hurt to have an outside voice mediate between them to allow the partnership to help solve cases, not let them go cold. At the beginning, they both felt that these meetings were useful; however, now that they’re dating, the meetings are completely pointless and a waste of time. They do like to hang out with Niall though, so they don’t complain too much.

“So, do we alert the press?” Nick asked as he looked towards Louis.

“No.” Harry said sternly while looking at all of them. “The F.B.I. will want this kept under wraps because if this gets out, people will blame the Senator, and we can’t have blame be placed prematurely.”

“So until we have evidence linking her death to a suspect, we keep quiet?” Louis tried to clarify.

“Exactly.” Harry said standing up straight. “Louis, come with me. The rest of you, get to work.”

Nick gave a sarcastic salute as he and Liam walked out to the office, most likely planning some stupid experiment that will cause a lot of problems but will get them the answers they need. Like the one where they dropped a dead monkey off the top of the building to see how heights affected how a brain splattered, which was stupid but did get them answers.

“Where are we going?” Louis asked as Harry led him out of the Jeffersonian and to Harry’s car.

“We have to tell the Director of the F.B.I. that Chloe has been found and see what he says,” Harry explained as he started the car and began the drive to F.B.I. headquarters. “And he’ll tell us who heads the team to investigate her death. Meaning you might be stuck in the lab while I’m stuck at my desk doing nothing.”

“Why wouldn’t he let you head the investigation?”

“Because of your actions on the last case, breaking the guy’s hands, he doesn’t trust that I can control you and so I might not be allowed to head it because of you,” Harry said. “But I don’t blame you, the guy made us stop his death by showing how many more he has killed. He deserved it and I hope his death is a painful affair.”

Louis nodded but guilt pooled in his stomach due to causing Harry problems at work. He knew he shouldn’t have broken the guy’s hand, but he needed to know where the bodies were and the guy wasn’t telling. Now Louis’ decision and actions are possibly ruining his boyfriend’s career. He could almost cry with the amount of guilt he felt.

“Don’t cry babe,” Harry whispered softly after looking over and seeing the tell-tale signs that Louis was about to cry. “He might let me still lead the investigation, we don’t know until we talk to him. So don’t cry, you should never cry because of anything you do.” Louis nodded and tried to think happy thoughts to stop the tears. Harry reached over with one of his hands and gripped Louis’ hand with his, rubbing the back of it with his thumb to soothe him. Louis gave him a small smile and leaned his head against the window and closed his eyes.

@@@@@@@@@@

The meeting went just as badly as Louis anticipated. Harry would not be allowed to be apart of the task force, not because of Louis but because of his last name. Harry’s original last name was Booth, like John Wilkes Booth. And it wouldn’t be wise to have a descendent of a president assasinator head an investigation for the dead intern to a Senator.

“When were you going to tell me your last name is Booth and not Styles?” Louis asks, hurt that Harry didn’t trust him to know.

“My last name has been Styles since I was 10, when I got it changed to match my step-dad’s last name.” Harry answers as he pulls out of the F.B.I. parking facility and begins the drive back to the Jeffersonian. “And I didn’t want to keep the last name Booth. My real dad was a child abuser, who should go to hell for what he did to my brother and I. Changing my name was to distance myself from him, and I didn't want to relive why I changed it to explain it to you. That's not who I am.”

Louis looked at Harry with a distraught expression, he hadn’t known Harry’s dad had abused Harry and Marcel, Harry’s brother. He wanted to say sorry but didn’t know how.

“Don’t, I don’t need any apologies or anything. It’s in the past and I’d like it to stay that way.” Harry said, ending the conversation. Before Louis could complain his phone began to ring.

“Tomlinson.” Louis says as he opens the phone.

“It’s Payne. I just got the results from the pupil casings, it shows she was on lorazepam, chlordiazepoxide, and meclizine hydrochloride.” Liam said into the phone.

“Nausea.” Louis responded before figuring something else out. “Put Nick on the phone.”

“Yes, Dr. Tomlinson.” Nick responded into the phone.

“Look at the bone fragments we found with the body. Do they look like fetal bones?” Louis asked.

“They look like fetal ear bones. She was pregnant.” Nick concluded. Louis ended the phone call before turning towards Harry.

“Chloe Stevens was pregnant.” Louis tells Harry when they reach a stoplight.

“What?” Harry asks, shocked as he turns towards Louis.

“The bones we found with the body weren’t frog bones but fetal ear bones. She was pregnant when she died.” Louis elaborated. Harry shook his head as the light turned green and he began to drive again.

“No one said she was seeing someone during the initial interviews.” Harry commented, as he racked his brain for any indication that she may have been from the initial interviews he did last year.

“Do you think it was an affair between her and the senator?” Louis asked as they arrived at the Jeffersonian. “Maybe the rumors of her testing his marriage are underplayed and she actually slept with him?”

“Well I have three days to ask those kinds of questions before the case is taken from me.” Harry said as they went into the room where the bones are.

“Show me the bones.” Louis said as Nick handed him the fetal bones. Louis looked at them closer. “She should have been far enough along that she could tell someone or inform the father. Whoever got her pregnant might have killed her.” Louis said as he handed the bones back to him. “Test the bones for DNA, Payne, we can test it against all of our databases.” Liam nodded as he took the bones to Zayn to test for DNA.

“Let’s go tell her parents.” Harry said as Louis finished his second looks-over of the bones.

Louis nodded as he removed his gloves and they set out to Chloe Stevens’ parents’ house. By now, both Louis and Harry had a plan as to how they’d tell the parents she was dead and get anything they need.


	3. Finding Suspects

Previously on Bones: Louis nodded as he removed his gloves and they set out to Chloe Stevens’ parents’ house. By now, both Louis and Harry had a plan as to how they’d tell the parents she was dead and get anything they need.

Currently:

As they got closer to her parent’s house, Harry became more and more solemn. He had promised them the last time that he was there that he would find her and return her alive. Now he’s going back on that promise and he hates to do so.

“Let’s get this over with,” he said as they pulled into the Stevens’ driveway and got out of the car, slamming the door a bit too hard. Harry walked up to the door, with Louis directly behind him, and knocked on the door. Louis could see the nerves rolling off of Harry in tidal waves. Louis discreetly put on hand on Harry’s back, trying to calm him a little.

The door opened to show an African American older man and a caucasian woman standing behind it. They were Ted and Sharon Stevens, Chloe’s parents. Ted was a member of the army and had gotten a medal in the first Gulf War, which was given to his daughter.

“Agent Styles, what brings you here?” Sharon asked.

“May we come in?” Harry asked, gesturing to Louis behind him. “We have news about your daughter.” A look of relief passed through both parent’s faces, which made Harry feel even more guilty. He wasn’t there to tell them she was alive, and that was eating away at his soul. That look of relief made him want to crawl into a small hole and stay there.

They were quickly invited in and offered refreshments, which they both declined. Finally, both parents sat down and Harry took a breath before informing them about their daughter.

“I’m so sorry to say this,” Harry began. “We sadly found your daughter over the weekend. I’m sorry to say this but she’s no longer with us. We just confirmed earlier that it was Chloe. I am so sorry to be the one to tell you this.”

Harry turned away, not wanted to see their expressions. Louis moved closer to him and put a hand on his lower back, rubbing his back in small circular movements. Once their sobbing had quieted down, Harry turned back to introduce Louis to them.

“This is Dr. Louis Tomlinson, the lead anthropologist in charge of your daughter’s case.” Harry said, gesturing to Louis.

“Did she suffer?” Ed asked, tears in his eyes.

“No, she didn't suffer.” Harry answered for Louis. Louis just smiled sadly. Given the injuries, she suffered greatly; each hit took a lot of energy out of her and was brutal. But telling a parent how bad their kid suffered is never the answer.

“What happened?” Ed asked.

“That’s what we’re trying to figure out. Do you know if she was seeing anyone before she disappeared?” Harry asked.

“Not that we knew of. She said she was too busy being an intern for the Senator to have time to date.” Sharon said.

“Besides, my girl was too good for any of those political men.” Ed said. Louis scoffed under his breath. This “too-good-for-political-men” girl was sleeping with one of them, if not multiple given that she was pregnant. Harry gave him a look, Louis took it as his cue to stop it.

“Thank you for your time.” Harry said as he stood up and shook their hands. He wanted to get out of there as fast as he could. “And I promise to do everything in my power to bring the guy who did this to justice.”

There wasn’t anything of her left in that house. She had moved out for college and seldom visited that house; the distance between her and her parents had grown in the year before her death. Most of her stuff is now in a federal storage facility near the capital because no one could pay for her place. The F.B.I. held onto her stuff for her to collect it or for her family to, in case they found her remains.

“Did the F.B.I. find anything in her journals to suggest that she was seeing someone?” Louis asked as they were driving to the storage facility to grab the items.

“We combed through everything,” Harry hissed. “If we had found anything, do you really think I would have been surprised that she was seeing someone and is pregnant?”

“So then why are we getting her stuff? If the F.B.I. has combed over everything, then why do we need them now?” Louis asked, unsure as to why they are driving so far to pick up useless evidence.

“Because knowing she was pregnant gives us a clear idea of what we should look for.” Harry elaborated as he pulled into the parking garage outside the storage space. “Stay in the car. You aren’t an official F.B.I. agent, so they won’t let you in the building.”

Louis huffed as he sifted in his seat and sank down into it. He hated when he was forced to sit on the sidelines while Harry got to be the macho F.B.I. agent with an official badge. Although Louis isn’t angry about not being allowed to go into the building, he’s angry on principle.

While sitting in the car he received a call from the lab. “Tomlinson.” Louis answered as he got comfortable in his chair; it was going to be a while before Harry got the items.

“Dr. Tomlinson, we were able to pull D.N.A. from the baby bones, enough to run it against the databases.” Liam said as he was shifting around in the background of the call. “I also was able to pull evidence from the skull and found trace particulates from diatomaceous earth and remnants of steel embedded in the skull.”

‘What kind of steel? Could the diatomaceous earth come from where she was dumped?” Louis questioned as he sat up.

“This type of steel is fairly common and is most commonly used in tools like hammers and screwdrivers. I’m having Zayn look up weapons to see which ones match the wound. And as for the earth found in her, it couldn’t have come from her dump site. Diatomaceous earth is usually found in deserts, not on the sides of lakes. I’m currently running the chemical composition to see if I can find the exact brand of diatomaceous earth found.” Liam explained. “I’ll call back if I find something else.”

“Do that and also, tell Zayn to call me during his break.” Louis replied before hanging up the phone.

Suddenly, the driver side door was forced open and slammed shut as Harry angrily sat down in the seat. He slammed his hand against the steering wheel, his breaths coming out fast and heavy.

“What’s wrong?” Louis asked as he leaned closer to Harry.

“Everything’s gone. Someone came in and removed everything and left the box. No one can tell me who or when or how, all we know is everything's gone!” Harry screamed as he slammed his hand against the steering wheel again. He had promised her parents that he was going to find her alive and do everything in his power to find the person who harmed her, and now everything was gone. The only pieces of evidence they had to go on are gone, and now he can’t go to them and say I’m off the case and we’ve hit a dead end.

Louis looked at Harry and completely blanked on what to say. How can you apologize to someone and seem sincere when you don’t have any idea how to do so? He didn’t know how to console Harry, unsure what he needs to hear right now.

“Did anyone photocopy anything from the diaries? Keep a list of everything kept in storage?” Louis questioned, trying to see if this will help Harry at all.

Suddenly, Harry looked up and jumped out of the car and raced back into the facility. Louis just sat there shocked at Harry’s outburst, but he knew he couldn’t follow Harry into the facility to see what he ran to get.

After another 20 minutes had passed, Harry came walking out of the building with a small pink teddy bear in his hands. Louis just looked on in confusion as Harry got in the car and set the teddy bear on top of the empty cup holders between Louis and him.

“What’s with the bear, Styles?” Louis asked as he tried to figure out why Harry would walk out with a bear from an F.B.I. storage facility.

“Your questions reminded me that we had put the teddy bear from her stuff in a separate area,” Harry explained as he quickly pulled out of the parking spot and raced back to the Jeffersonian. “According to texts between her and a friend, she had gotten the bear to give as a gift, but we couldn’t figure out for whom. But given how childish the bear was, we kept it separate for later analysis, but never got around to ordering the tests. But with this information, the bear could be for her baby or to tell the dad.”

Louis took the bear and began to slowly look it over. It was simple bear, one commonly found in many stores, but there was something off about the stitching at the neck. Louis grabbed his bag from his feet and pulled out some gloves, so he could open the bear and not contaminate it. He also grabbed his camera to document what he finds.

Once he put the gloves on, he took a picture of the odd stitching before switching to video and filming himself slowly pulling at the stitching until it came out of the bear. He slowly lifted the head away and filmed the inside of the bear. Within the usual stuffing found in stuffed animals, he found two pieces of paper. One was a piece of paper usually found in a diary with pink lines. The other was an ultrasound picture.

Louis pulled both pieces from the bear and began to look over the diary page first.

‘Dear Diary,’ the writing began. ‘I slept with him, I actually slept with him. He is a married man, who is about as old as my dad, and I slept with him. God knows my dad would have a heart attack, if he knew, but I want to do it again. Something about him just makes my heart race and my insides tingle. But he is also married and so now I’m stuck.’

Louis gasped. She had an affair with a married man as old as he dad, the Senator fits that description. Louis pulled out his phone and dialled the one person’s number he knew could give him every answer he needed about this.

“Tell me every half-brained conspiracy out there about our victim and the Senator.” Louis commanded before Liam could say hello.

“There are too many to list them all, but one of the more popular ones is that they were having an affair. Pretty much all of them stem from the concept that they were sleeping together.” Liam answered as a beeping sound was emitted in the background. “Zayn’s got a match for the DNA for the father of the baby, oh my God.”

“Who is it?” Louis tried to get a response, but all he could hear was a bunch of ‘oh my gods’ and other swear words.

“It’s the Senator, sweetie.” Zayn answered after having taken the phone from Liam. “The baby’s dad is the Senator.”

Louis turned his phone on speaker and asked Zayn to repeat it for Harry.

As soon as Harry heard what Zayn said, he pulled into a gas station and turned around and was speeding in a different direction.

“Where are we going?” Louis asked as he tried to discern any landmarks to figure out where they are racing to.

“We’re gonna confront the Senator, he lied under oath during an investigation of a missing person.” Harry replied absentmindedly as he made sharp turns, following some unknown path. “And in lying he hid a crucial fact, which is against the law. He was under oath, you cannot lie while under oath.”

Louis nodded as he finally recognized a street sign.

“We are not just about to walk in there and confront him, are we?” Louis asked.

“Well, not confront.”

@@@@@@@@@@

“Why did you lie under oath?” Harry asked as he leaned on the interrogation table at the FBI headquarters. Opposite of him sat Senator Robert Markson, having been publicly arrested by Harry at Capitol Hill.

“What are you talking about?” He asked as he looked around in disbelief. “Why did you arrest me?”

“Cut the crap, we know you had an affair with Chloe Stevens, and you lied under oath about the affair and the fact she was pregnant.” Harry yelled as he slammed a copy of the diary page, which went on to say that she had told him about the baby. “Now, why did you lie? Did you kill her?”

“Kill her?! No, I loved her!” The Senator yelled before falling silent, an oh-shit look passing over his face.

Harry decided not to react and calmly walked out of the room. As soon as the door was closed, he raced into the room connected to the interrogation room. The rooms were connected by a darkened glass, so that those in the room could see everything in the interrogation room, but those in the interrogation room couldn’t.

Currently the room was occupied by Louis and Niall, who usually watch and sometimes participate in interrogating suspects. They didn’t participate in the interrogation because neither had anything to bring in terms of evidence and wanted to view it instead. 

“Is he lying?” Harry asked Niall as soon as the door was closed.

“Given how he is acting, he is either a great liar or he is telling the truth,” Niall answered as he gestured to the Senator who now had his head on the table in absolute defeat.

“What do you think, Bones?” Harry asked as he tried to figure out if the Senator is lying.

“I can’t tell.” Louis replies absentmindedly as he looks at the Senator. Louis has seen grief in many people, but how the Senator was acting was too textbook for him to feel comfortable. Like he should be doing more, he was just told this girl was dead and he wasn’t truly reacting to it.

Harry just shook his head and set the folder down on a little table that was in the room. He was at an impasse in the case: he can’t charge the Senator with murder, yet he can’t let him go either. Harry was stuck and he only had less than two days to go before he would have to give this case up.

“Have the squints found anything that can help me charge him?” Harry asked while staring down the Senator through the glass.

“Stop calling them that. I haven’t received anything from them, so I’m going to assume they haven’t.” Louis says as he stands next to Harry. He has to be conscious of his actions with Niall in the room, even though all he wants to do is drag Harry back home and cuddle him.

“I recommend charging him with lying under oath and coming by my office for the appointment before calling it a night.” Niall said before giving them both a wink and leaving.

As soon as the door was closed, Louis yanked Harry into his arms and hugged him tight. Harry fought back at first, not wanting the sympathy, but gave up after a few seconds and let himself be held.

“Now I want you to go in there and arrest him while I go back to the lab and get you something so you can charge him with more.” Louis said confidently, letting go of Harry.

He gave him a quick kiss on the lips, but before he could walk away Harry gripped his arms and gave Louis what can only be described as an earth shattering kiss. It was filled with so much love and power it nearly knocked Louis onto his knees. In that moment, he could swear, he knew Harry was the only one for him, and Harry felt the exact same.

Harry let Louis go and went back into the interrogation room to handcuff the Senator and bring him back to the FBI lockup. Louis brought himself out of his daydream and made the journey back to his lab.

As soon as Louis was back in the lab, Zayn suddenly appeared from his office and dragged Louis back in.

“So I tested all of the bones from the baby in case one wasn’t big enough to get DNA, and I just got another notification of a match on the bones.” He explained as he pointed to the screen which held the images of both the Senator and his personal assistant. 

“Did the DNA get mixed up?” Louis asked as he held up the two bones that had the matches up and compared them.

“Upon further analysis of the DNA it turns out that they belong to two different babies,” Zayn sighed. “She was pregnant with twins and they have different fathers.”

“So she was not only sleeping with the Senator but his PA as well?” Louis questioned as he looked at the bones, trying to find some feature to separate them from each other.

“It appears so. Should we tell Booth?” Zayn asks as he closes the pictures and begins his search for a weapon that could have caused the damage to the skull.

“We have to, he’ll need it if we’re gonna find the killer.” Louis responds as Zayn compiles all the new evidence onto a flashdrive and hands it to Louis.

Louis smiles before he leaves and heads off to the FBI office to give Harry the evidence. It was a bit of a walk, but the peace of the air around Louis made him feel some odd sense of peace. He looked down and saw his shoe was untied, and he bent down to tie it.

As soon as he was about halfway bent, the glass of the store right next to him burst as the sound of a gun firing broke through the peace that had filled the air.


	4. Catching a Killer

Previously on Bones: As soon as he was about halfway bent, the glass of the store right next to him burst as the sound of a gun firing broke through the peace that had filled the air.

Currently

Louis quickly ducked down and hid behind a car right next to him as he shakily grabbed his phone out if his pocket and speed-dialed the only number he had saved on speed dial.

“Styles.” Harry answered. Before he could ask who it was, the gunman began to shoot, and Louis could tell they were shooting at the car he was hiding behind.

“Help Harry.” Louis whispers into the phone while he tries to calm his breathing.

“Where are you?!” Harry screamed into the phone as Louis could hear him yelling about the shooting to his office.

“I’m by the diner.” Louis says as he looks off to the corner of the street and sees the diner he and Harry constantly frequent.

“I’m on my way. Stay safe love.” Harry said as Louis could hear him getting into his car and the siren being turned on. A comforting fact was Harry never hung up on the quick drive he took to get to Louis.

As soon as the sirens became louder, the shooter stopped, and the sound of a tires screeching filled the air and became a distant sound as it drove away from the scene.

“Louis!” Harry yelled as he arrived at the scene, and all he could see were injured people and damage property, but no Louis.

“Harry.” Louis yelled as he slowly got up from behind the car, gripping onto the car, which is the only thing keeping him standing upright.

Harry took one look at him and raced over to where Louis was.

“Are you okay?” Harry asked frazzled as he got to Louis, trying to look him over to make sure he was alright.

Louis just let go of the car and fell into Harry, his face buried into his chest and sobbed. The fear of dying had finally hit him, and he could barely maintain his sanity at the moment. He doesn’t care that there are a probably hundreds of feds there, he was almost killed and he just wants to cry it out with his boyfriend.

“You're okay.” Harry’s voice breaks as he wrapped his arms around Louis and pulls him closer, kissing his head as a few tears slipped out of his eyes. His boyfriend was almost killed, sue him for crying about it.

A paramedic walked over to them after a few seconds of them holding each other, needing to check Louis over for injuries. Harry lets go of Louis but makes sure he keeps one hand on him, so he can still feel Louis, reassuring him he is still alive.

The paramedic looked Louis over and deemed him healthy and allowed Harry to drive him home. Harry was absolutely not allowing Louis to go back to work after almost being killed, especially since this case could be the reason he was almost killed.

“This is for you.” Louis whispered as he handed Harry the flash drive.

“I don’t care right now, all I care is that you’re alive and not hurt.” Harry whispers as he took the flash drive and placed it on the table by the door and dragged Louis back to their bedroom. He slowly stripped Louis and himself before dragging both of them into the bed. He pulled Louis into his arms and kissed him on the head.

They dozed off for a few seconds, but were suddenly awoken by Louis’ phone buzzing incessantly against the floor, where it was left in his pant pocket.

Louis groaned and removed himself from Harry’s arms and dizzily grabbed his phone and answered it, not caring to check the caller ID.

“Hello,” Louis groans, sleep still evident in his voice.

“Louis! We just heard what happened. Where are you?” Zayn yelled into the phone.

“I’m at Harry’s.” Louis answered as he walked into the kitchen and grabbed a glass of water and set it on the table. He froze when he realized the flash drive was no longer on the table.

“Why are you there?” Zayn questioned, but Louis could barely hear him.

“HARRY!” Louis yells as he drops the glass and grabs one of the guns from where Harry hid it.

“Louis?” Harry yells before a giant slamming sound is heard before the sound of feet running down the hall is heard. “What are you doing?”

“It’s gone, the flash drive is gone.” Louis says as he gestures to the table while he holds the gun close to him, constantly shifting his eyes from side to side.

Harry glanced at the table and then looked around before realizing they aren’t alone while they are here. He grabs a second gun hidden in the room and runs back to the bedroom to grab his phone to call other agents.

“We’ll be fine.” Harry comforts Louis as he drags them both back to the bedroom, and they take turns getting dressed while the other watches to see if the burglar is still here.

“Oh my god, I left my phone in the kitchen, and I never hung up on Zayn.” Louis says before running to the kitchen and grabbing the phone to see that it had died.

Suddenly there was knocking on the door, and Harry slowly creeps to the door and checks in the peephole to see who’s there. He held his gun down and gestured for Louis to do the same as he opens the door to allow the forensic agents from the FBI to come in.

Louis hands his gun back to Harry before grabbing Harry’s phone and dialing Zayn back.

“What happened?” Zayn asked as soon as Louis calmed him down and reassured him he wasn’t dead.

“Someone shot at me and broke into Harry’s apartment and stole the flash drive. You do have all the evidence saved elsewhere, right?” Louis questioned as he stood beside Harry, who tucks him under his arm and slowly tries to comfort him.

“All my data is stored on multiple servers and about a million back-ups with all evidence downloaded onto flash drives for each case.” Zayn explains. “All of it is on a flash drive here in a locked area that no one can get into without tripping a million sensors and alerting security.”

Louis takes a breath and lets some of the stress leave him.

“Are there supposed to be wires coming out of the fridge?” An agent asks as they gesture to a few random wire leaving the fridge.

Louis freezes, and Harry vehemently shakes his head no.

The agent freezes for a second and then grabs her radio and calls an emergency to clear the building and call bomb squad. Harry and Louis are escorted out of the building while bomb squad arrives to check the entire apartment to find if any bombs were placed.

Louis was pretty much shaking as Harry wrapped Louis up tightly in his arms and makes sure Louis is completely pressed against Harry with all body parts touching.

“We’ll be alright, we’ll figure out who did this and catch them.” Harry assures Louis as he watches the bomb squad carry a giant green box out carefully and place it in the back of one of their vans. It was followed by the entire squad, who all removed their gear.

The head of the squad walked over to the residents and told them it was safe to return to their homes and that the threat was gone.

He held Harry and Louis back while the rest slowly entered the building, all shaken at having a bomb squad look throughout their apartments, looking for a bomb.

“We removed the bomb from the fridge and didn’t find any more. You are really lucky you didn’t open the fridge, it had enough ammo to destroy the entire apartment and some of the units on either side.” He said before giving them a nod and walking away.

(Not edited past here)

At this point a car could be heard screeching towards them, but before Louis could duck and cover, he heard a familiar voice yelling his name.

“LOUIS!” Zayn yelled as he jumped out of the car and ran towards Harry and Louis. Niall and Liam climbed out of the back of the car and raced after Zayn.

“Sweetie, are you alright?” Zayn asked as he held Louis at arm’s length and looked him over for any marks or blood, any sign that he was injured. “I was worried when you didn’t respond.”

“Yeah, just a little shaken but I’m fine.” Louis answered as he got loose of Zayn’s hold and leaned back into Harry. 

“What happened?” Liam asked as he looked at all the government vehicles that were gathered at Louis’ building.

“Someone put a bomb in Louis’ apartment.” Harry explained as he wrapped his arms around Louis, as if to shield him from the outside world.

“Oh, sweetie!” Zayn exclaimed as he hugged Louis from the other side of Harry.

“Did you bring the evidence?” Harry asked Zayn.

“Yeah, but we should look at it in a more secure and less public place.” Zayn explained as he looked around.

Harry nodded and the rest of the boys formed a human shield around Louis and helped him into the car. Zayn drove while Liam sat in the passenger seat, Louis sat in the middle fo the back seat with Harry and Niall on either sides of him. Louis leaned his head into Harry’s neck and tried to calm his racing heart. 

First he was shot at, then had the evidence stolen, and had a bomb wired to explode in his house. He may have a dangerous job but he has never had this much danger happen in one case. And he’s work in literal mass graves of victims of death squads. This case should have been a walk in the park.

“Who’s doing this?” Louis murmured, trying to figure out who would stop him from finding the truth.

“It’s not the Senator,” Niall explained as he turned to look at Louis. “I was just at lock-up, he’s still in the cell.” 

“It’s not the PA,” Zayn added. “He’s in California, at a family wedding. He posted a picture on his Instagram and I check, the wedding is today.”

“Who else would be so interested in us not solving the case? If it’s not the babys’ dads, then who?” Louis asked.

“I have an idea.” Harry announced.

 

“What am I doing here?” the Senator’s wife, Miranda Markson, asked as she looked around at the boring interrogation room around her.

“We just have a few questions for you,” Niall explained as he and Harry sat down across from her at the table. “Did you know a Chloe Stevens?” 

“Yes,” Miranda exclaimed, as if it was a stupid question to have asked.

“How would you describe Chole?” Niall asked.

“She was a hard worked, my husband just loved her,” she explained, putting a little too much emphasis on ‘loved her.’

“Did you know about Chloe’s affair with your husband’s PA?” Harry asked.

“Chloe wasn’t sleeping with Byran, he’s too classy for that…” Miranda stopped talking.

“That what mam?” Harry asked.

“Nothing, lost my train of thought.” She said.

“How do you know she wasn’t sleeping with him?” Niall continued.

“He would have told me.” Miranda explained.

“Why would he have told you?” Harry questioned.

“Because I had an affair with him.” Miranda admitted. “My husband knew, and said he would keep my secret if I didn’t divorce him. He was in the middle of a tough reelection campaign when I started the affair.”

“Did you know that Chloe was pregnant at the time of her death?” Harry asked. “And that the fathers were Bryan Hatter and your husband, Robert Markson.”

“She was pregnant!?!?!” Miranda almost screamed as she shot up out of her chair. “That slut!”

“Mam…” Niall tried to speak but then the wife cut him off.

“I killed her to keep the affair a secret, but of course they forgot protection. Lord knows they would lose their heads without me.” She froze.

“Miranda Markson, you are under arrest for the murder of Chole Summers. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you. Do you understand the rights I have just read to you?” Harry explained as he handcuffed her.

“I wish my men had done their jobs, but they just had to miss that doctor friend of yours.” Miranda spit out at Harry.

Harry face grew cold as he harshly yanked her out of the interrogation and almost threw her into a cell and slammed the door to the cell. Niall followed Harry as he got in his car and raced back to the labs.

“Harry…” Niall tried to comfort him but Harry wasn’t listening.

Harry quickly walked to Louis lab and pulled him into a hug.

“Booth, what’s wrong?” Louis asked as he hugged him back.

“It was the wife, she had killed Chloe and tried to kill you.” Harry explained as he pulled back as kissed Louis.

“Well, you go sweetie.” said a voice from the doorway.

Louis and Harry quickly broke their kiss and saw Zayn, Liam, and Niall all watching them.

“We…” Louis tried to cover their tracks.

“We know you guys have been seeing each other sweetie.” Zayn explained as he stepped into the office. “You too are about as subtle as a bear to honey. But we still love you.” 

The boys came in and gave them hugs.

“So, Zayn and I have something to tell you guys also,” Liam announced as he reached out and grabbed Zayn’s hand with his own.

“No way!” Harry exclaimed as he finally picked up on why they were holding hands.

“No!” Niall almost yelled. “I will not be the fifth wheel to you all.”

They all laughed as Niall shook his head at the absurdity of it all.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed and now want to watch bones


End file.
